Drive to Puno

I was awake long before my 5.30am alarm. It's difficult for me to sleep in a tent once it gets light! We got up and packed away our tent, sleeping bags, and mats before our truck breakfast at 6.15. It was hard-boiled eggs and toast this morning.

After a short wait for someone to come and open the gate for us, we were on our way soon after 7am. Ritchie negotiated the tight exit onto the main road with ease and then had to fight his way out of the city through the rush-hour traffic. Once we were out of Arequipa, we followed the same road as we had come in on back towards Chivay.

This time, the weather was kinder to us. It was sunny and warm. We had a couple of short hold ups due to roadworks and arrived at the same viewpoint toilet stop we had used a couple of days ago by 10.15am.

It was a much higher temperature than the other day, and we were treated to the sight of a couple of vicunas walking up the road. One of them came to drink in a small pond near us, so I was able to get some good photos on my phone.

I bought some alpaca bed socks to wear in the tent. They are very soft and only cost 20 soles (about £4).

Back on the road, we turned off for Puno. We climbed higher and we ran into some rain. The landscape looked rather barren, but we saw plenty of herds of llamas, alpacas, and vicunas, all of them grazing in the midst of flocks of sheep, as well as several isolated communities.Read more